Science Says Yes, Babies May Be Able to Read Your Mind

Next time you sarcastically tell your child something — like, mommy just loves it when you puke all over me — mind yourself. He probably knows what you really mean.A new study published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, has found through false-belief task tests conducted on children globally that babies as young as 18 months old know what mom is thinking through inference. Live Science explains false-belief task tests, which are commonly used on children, like this:“... One person comes into a room and puts an object (such as a pair of scissors) into a hiding place. A second person then comes in and puts the scissors into his pocket, unbeknownst to the first individual. When that first person returns, someone will ask the child, ‘Where do you think the first person will look for the scissors?’”

Scientists thought only older children were able to answer that the person would look for the scissors in the original hiding spot — because that person doesn't know the other person actually moved it. But in this study, researchers took babies through a similar situation and looked at their reactions to the question. They found that time and again the babies gazed at the original hiding place in response to the question.In layman terms — basically, your little sweetie who you already think is a total genius is actually a lot smarter than everyone who is not you thinks. Maybe that shot at going to Harvard isn’t so far off!Source: Live Science